Actually, toadmother, I suspect if a flower attracts a wide variety of insects in its native habitat, that probably means it's attractive to insects in general, so it's likely to do well elsewhere also. On the other hand, if a flower attracts only one specific type of insect at home, it may be a total bust elsewhere. Just my guess. BTW, for those who are familiar with only one name or the other, golden marguerite = Anthemis tinctoria, so several of the above posts are about the same flower. And in reply to newboy's original question (though he may no longer be quite so new!), if you truly want or need to limit yourself to 3 flowers, your best bets are probably annuals. If you start them early (or buy them as plants), many of them will bloom just about all season, and as Organic Johnny says above, it's important to have something blooming all the time. Some of the best annuals for bennies have already been mentioned: Sweet Alyssum, Bachelor Buttons (aka Cornflower), and Borage.

It is a well know and tried and tested method of aphid control on runner beans. By planting marigolds in between the runners - apart from being pretty - it will discrourage the green and black fly, thus illiminating the aphids. As far as i am aware, there is no toxicity to pollenating and other benificial preditor insects.

I have volunteer Oxalis and Strawberries, which I just leave alone. I wish the Oxalis was thicker and the Strawberries do not like being covered in the winter. This past mild winter seems to have really hit them hard, especially as last summer I was very late in getting the Roses uncovered but the Strawberries looked pretty good. This warm winter it seems everything under the cover, except the roses, and night crawles, looked like the worms went dirt tracking under there, took a real beating. I was rushed for time, trying to beat the rain, which was too bad as on a deep black surface like that, every weed that had survived stuck out like a zit, but I simply did not have time to dig them all out. As it is I failed and ended up digging the roses out of the black muck in the rain. The only tool that works if you do not want to ruin the roses is ones bare hands. The problem with having to cover the roaes is finding what companions tolerates that, that is not unwanted. I am not, repeat NOT, going to bury them again as workng in our black-gumbo is too much a pain in the buttocks in the spring. I put strings on them to find them but the strings either rotted or were so soaked in black mud, I could not find them. I actually think what ever the string was made of was candy for night crawlers as the few I found when pulled were no longer attached to anything and about half as long as they once were. I also think one is still buried but will just wait till a sprout pops up to locate it. The ones that did best were the ones so stiff that canes poppped up out of the dirt so they were easy to find, but up-righting them was not hard because I had to dig up the rose, but I had to dig a hole behind the rose to upright it. I have done this more than once before but this was the worst of the worst, in a year when it should have been very easy. The Oxalis comes from seed pods but I am worried the Straberries took a real hit. It took four years for them to cover one fourth of the rose bed.

I emailed you, but it may have ended up in junk. I have small, medium and large sized spider plants. Let me know how many you would be interested in having and what you think would be a fair swap.